Stumbling through Super Metroid - Part 6

[davidn]

If my Super Metroid playthrough were a video compression algorithm... then it would make no sense. But it would also be the best one in the world - I thought I would have to split last night's play into two episodes, but over two hours of play have boiled down to just over fifteen minutes of active content!

It's content in which I hoover up a load of items and generally make some significant progress, though - in this part, I fight the second big boss and gain a new ability, which will no doubt get me into some intriguing new areas as soon as I remember where they are.

There's an interesting point in this video where I think I did something wrongly but managed to advance anyway... I can't imagine what I did being the actual solution, but I spent a while trying every other avenue I could think of and this was the only thing I did that resulted in any success at all. Judge for yourself!

http://youtu.be/3Ww9oGW1jtQ
I'm actually trying to think of other places to promote playthroughs, because I think this is one that many people will be interested in just now for the same reason I started it! Any ideas?

Comments

[rakarr.livejournal.com]

Am I the only person in the world who actually found it a climactic and compelling fight? I mean, I think I might have even beaten it on the first try, but I was pretty stupid and/or bad at the game so I didn't do it as easily nor as instantly as I do now. My panic was probably also fueled by memories of those damn wall bosses in Secret of Mana - also easy, for the prepared, but dangerous.
I think it's a fantastic set-piece battle, but it just suffers - if the player is fairly competent - from being far too easy. But there are always players, even in the minority, who will actually have trouble. I remember the similarly-themed boss battles from Super Mario World (knock the boss into the lava by jumping on him when the platform tilts the right way) being difficult once upon a time, too.
Maybe Crocomire needs some more immediate hazards; pits of lava along the path toward the spikes, or more attacks on his part.
I also, for some reason, got the impression that this was only a baby of its species. I'm not sure why - I don't think that's mentioned anywhere - but entertaining the thought certainly raises one's guilt-level!

EDIT: In fact...
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081013194130/metroid/images/e/e0/Crocomire_Artwork.jpg
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090411031127/metroid/images/a/a9/Crocomire_roar.gif

Look at the proportions and tell me that's not a little baby crocomire.